The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits and, more particularly, to receiver circuits for integrated circuits.
Continued reduction of integrated circuit sizes has led to a lowering of voltage supply levels in monolithic integrated circuits and a corresponding usage of low voltage devices. However, the peripheral circuits and I/O supply levels continue to operate at higher voltage supply levels. For example, a bus driver circuit may operate at 3.3V, but the process may not support such high voltage devices. Operating the lower voltage devices at higher voltage levels leads to reliability issues like hot carrier injection, gate oxide, and source drain breakdown.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a receiver circuit formed with low voltage devices, yet operable with a higher supply voltage without degrading device reliability.